Comparison of X Window System desktop environments: Difference between revisions

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{{shortShort description|Wikimedia list articlenone}}

{{more footnotes|date=September 2018}}

A [[desktop environment]] is a collection of software designed to give functionality and a certain [[look and feel]] to an [[operating system]].

This article applies to [[operating system]]s which are capable of running the [[X Window System]], mostly [[Unix]] and [[Unix-like]] operating systems such as [[Linux]], [[Minix]], [[illumos]], [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]], [[IBM AIX|AIX]], [[FreeBSD]] and [[Mac OS X]].<ref>[http://www.xfree86.org/ XFree86 Official Website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031020210433/http://xfree86.org/ |date=2003-10-20 }} line 5</ref> [[Microsoft Windows]] is incapable of natively running X applications; however, third-party X servers like [[Cygwin/X]], [[Hummingbird Ltd.|Exceed]], or [[Xming]] are available.<ref>[http://x.cygwin.com/ Cygwin/X website]</ref><ref>[httphttps://sourceforge.net/projects/xming Xming project homepage on SourceForge]</ref>

== Technical elements of a desktop environment ==

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Some of the differences which can influence the choice of desktop environment are:

* [[Look and feel]] of the desktop environment. The user will be more comfortable with a certain look and feel that they may or may not already be familiar with.

* Flexibility and configurability of the desktop environment. A sophisticated user might want a highly configurable desktop environment to make the desktop environment work the way they want. A beginning userbeginner might just want an easy-to-use environment to which they will adjust.

* Personal preferences for choice of software, which has two aspects:

** Each desktop environment comes packaged with various default software and various "ways things are done" under that desktop. A casual user might like a highly integrated graphical interface to change various settings while a more experienced user might prefer to use individual configuration utilities or even [[Command-line interface|CLI]] tools.

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{| class="wikitable sortable"

! rowspan="2" | Name

! Name !! First release date

! rowspan="2" | Initial release

! Latest stable release!! Latest stable release date !! Programming language !! Graphical toolkit !! License !! Notes

! colspan="2" | Latest release

! rowspan="2" | Programming language

! rowspan="2" | Graphical toolkit

! rowspan="2" | License

! rowspan="2" | Notes

|-

! Version <!-- stable versions -->

| [[Cinnamon_(software)|Cinnamon]] || 2011

! Date <!-- YYYY-MM-DD / ISO 8601 -->

| 4.6.2 <ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://github.com/linuxmint/cinnamon/blob/master/debian/changelog |title=cinnamon/changelog at master |website=www.github.com |access-date=2020-06-06}}</ref>|| 2020-05-27<ref name=":0"/> || C, JavaScript, Python || GTK || GPL || Forked from GNOME 3 with the intent to create a traditional desktop built on modern technologies.

|-

| [[Budgie (desktop environment)|Budgie]]

| [[Deepin#DDE|Deepin Desktop Environment]] (DDE) || 2015

| 2014-02-07

| || 2019-07-19 || C++ || Qt || GPL || The desktop environment of Deepin.

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q27888813|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

| {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q27888813|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}

| C, Vala

| GTK

| GPL

| The intention was to use [[GNOME]] components to create a more lightweight and traditional desktop that still had most of the features that GNOME provided at the time.

|-

| [[EnlightenmentCinnamon (software)|EnlightenmentCinnamon]] (E) || 1997

| 2011-04

| 0.24.1<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |url=https://www.enlightenment.org/news/e24.1 |title=Enlightenment DR 0.24.1 Release |website=www.enlightenment.org |access-date=2020-06-06}}</ref>|| 2020-05-31<ref name=":1" /> || C || EFL || BSD license || Complete environment including centralized configuration of most settings.

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1092551|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

| {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q1092551|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}

| C, JavaScript, Python

| GTK

| GPL

| Forked from GNOME 3 with the intent to create a traditional desktop built on modern technologies.

|-

| [[EquinoxCommon Desktop Environment]] (EDECDE) |
| 20031993-0106-06 30

| 2.5.2

| 2.1 <ref name=":2">{{Cite web |url=https://sourceforge.net/p/ede/news/2014/06/ede-21-released/ |title=EDE / News: EDE 2.1 released |website=www.sourceforge.net |access-date=2020-06-06}}</ref> || 2014-06-22<ref name=":2" /> || C++ || FLTK || GPL, LGPL || Seldom used environment, has seen little activity in recent years.

| 2023-11-18

| C, C++

| [[Motif (software)|Motif]]

| [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL-2.0-or-later]]

| Part of the [[UNIX 98|UNIX 98 Workstation Product Standard]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/testing/prodstds.htm|title=Testing requirements by Product Standard|publisher=The Open Group|date=January 31, 2013|access-date=September 29, 2013}}</ref> Released in 2012 under a [[Free software|free]] license.

|-

| [[Deepin#DDE|Deepin Desktop Environment]] (DDE)

| Étoilé || 2006-02-22

| 2015

| 0.4.2 || 2012-04-11 || Objective-C || GNUstep || MIT, BSD license || Has seen little activity for several years, the last sign of activity having been in 2014.

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q129145|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

| {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q129145|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}

| C++

| Qt

| GPL

| The desktop environment of Deepin.

|-

| [[Enlightenment (software)|Enlightenment]] (E)

| [[GNOME]] || 1999-03-03

| 1997

| 3.38<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|title=GNOME 3.38 Released – GNOME|url=https://www.gnome.org/news/2020/09/gnome-3-38-released/|access-date=2020-11-20|language=en}}</ref>|| 2020-09-16<ref name=":3" />|| C, C++, Vala, Python, JavaScript || GTK || GPL, LGPL || GNOME is one of the most popular environments. Major design changes with the 3.0 release sparked the creation of Cinnamon (a fork of GNOME 3), Unity (an alternative Gnome Desktop Session to GNOME Shell) and MATE (a fork of GNOME 2).

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q692045|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

| {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q692045|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}

| C

| EFL

| BSD license

| Complete environment including centralized configuration of most settings.

|-

| [[Equinox Desktop Environment]] (EDE)

| [[KDE Plasma 5]] (KDE5, KDE Plasma Workspaces, formerly K Desktop Environment or simply KDE) || 1998-07-12

| 2003-01-06

| 5.21<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|date=2021-02-16|title=Plasma 5.21 - KDE Community|url=https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/5/5.21.0/|access-date=2021-04-29|website=kde.org|language=en}}</ref>|| 2021-02-16<ref name=":4" />|| C++, QML || Qt || LGPL || KDE has a strong and enthusiastic following. The project is largely community-centric, and encompass many other applications and frameworks, many built specifically for KDE.

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1323918|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

| {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q1323918|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}

| C++

| FLTK

| GPL, LGPL

| Seldom used environment, has seen little activity in recent years.

|-

| Étoilé

| [[LXDE]] (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment) || 2006

| 2006-02-22

| 0.10.0<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |url=https://blog.lxde.org/2019/03/23/lxpanel-0-10-0-and-some-others/ |title=LXPanel 0.10.0 and some others… |last=LStranger |date=2019-03-23 |website=LXDE Blog |language=en-US |access-date=2019-08-05}}</ref>|| 2019-03-23<ref name=":5" />|| C || GTK || GPL, LGPL || LXDE, with its low resource footprint, is a favorite among developers of lighter-weight Linux distributions. Development has largely moved to LXQt, but it is still maintained.

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q290639|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

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| Objective-C

| GNUstep

| MIT, BSD license

| Has seen little activity for several years, the last sign of activity having been in 2014.

|-

| [[LXQtGNOME]] || 2014-05-07

| 1999-03-03

| 0.16.0<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|title=Release LXQt 0.16.0 {{!}} LXQt|url=https://lxqt-project.org/release/2020/11/05/lxqt-0-16-0/|access-date=2020-11-20|website=lxqt-project.org}}</ref>|| 2020-11-05<ref name=":6" />|| C, C++ || Qt || GPL, LGPL || Formed by a merger of LXDE-Qt and Razor-qt, this is a lightweight Qt-based desktop environment.

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q44316|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

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| C, C++, Vala, Python, JavaScript

| GTK

| GPL, LGPL

| GNOME is one of the most popular environments. Major design changes with the 3.0 release sparked the creation of Cinnamon (a fork of GNOME 3), Unity (an alternative Gnome Desktop Session to GNOME Shell) and MATE (a fork of GNOME 2).

|-

| [[KDE Plasma 5]] (KDE5, KDE Plasma Workspaces, formerly K Desktop Environment or simply KDE)

| [[MATE_(software)|MATE]] || 2011-08-19

| 1998-07-12

| 1.24<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |url=https://mate-desktop.org/blog/2020-02-10-mate-1-24-released/ |title=MATE 1.24 released |last=Ulbrich |first=Wolfgang |date=2020-02-10 |website=MATE |language=en |access-date=2020-06-06}}</ref>|| 2020-02-10<ref name=":7" />|| C, C++, Python || GTK || LGPL, GPL || Revival and continuation of GNOME 2 environment after the release of GNOME 3. In recent releases, it has been ported to GTK 3, demonstrating the progress of the project.

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q17363870|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

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| C++, QML

| Qt

| LGPL

| KDE has a strong and enthusiastic following. The project is largely community-centric, and encompass many other applications and frameworks, many built specifically for KDE.

|-

| [[LXDE]] (Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment)

| [[Elementary OS#Pantheon desktop environment|Pantheon]]|| 2011

| 2006

| || 2018-10-16 || Vala || GTK || GPL || The desktop environment of elementary OS.

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q47123|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

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| C

| GTK

| GPL, LGPL

| LXDE, with its low resource footprint, is a favorite among developers of lighter-weight Linux distributions. Development has largely moved to LXQt, but it is still maintained and in 2020 ported to GTK3.

|-

| [[Razor-qtLXQt]] || 2010

| 2014-05-07

| 0.5.2|| 2013-01-12 || C++ || Qt || GPL || Merged into LXQt

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q18341825|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

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| C, C++

| Qt

| GPL, LGPL

| Formed by a merger of LXDE-Qt and Razor-qt, this is a lightweight Qt-based desktop environment.

|-

| [[MATE (software)|MATE]]

| [[ROX Desktop]] || 2000 (?)

| 2011-08-19

| || 2011-10-09 || C, Python || GTK || GPL ||

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q194090|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

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| C, C++, Python

| GTK

| LGPL, GPL

| Revival and continuation of GNOME 2 environment after the release of GNOME 3. In recent releases, it has been ported to GTK 3, demonstrating the progress of the project.

|-

| [[Elementary OS#Pantheon desktop environment|Pantheon]]

| [[theDesk Desktop Environment]] || 2020-06-17

| 2011

| Beta 4 <ref name=":11">{{Cite web |url=https://github.com/vicr123/thedesk/ |title=theDesk Desktop Environment / Github |website=www.github.com |access-date=2021-08-14}}</ref> || 2021-04-28<ref name=":11" /> || C++, QMake, other || QT || GPL || theDesk is a sucessor to theShell <ref name=":12">{{Cite web |url=https://github.com/vicr123/theshell/ |title=theShell / Github |website=www.github.com |access-date=2021-08-14}}</ref> and is a desktop environment built on Qt libraries.

| 8.2.4

| 2025-06-30

| Vala

| GTK

| GPL

| The desktop environment of elementary OS.

|-

| [[theShellRazor-qt]] || 2017

| 2010-09-05

| 8.0.2 <ref name=":12">{{Cite web |url=https://github.com/vicr123/theshell/ |title=theShell / Github |website=www.github.com |access-date=2021-08-14}}</ref> || 2021-07-28<ref name=":12" /> || C++, QMake, C || QT || GPL || theShell is a lightweight desktop environment built on Qt libraries.

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q2420670|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

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| C++

| Qt

| GPL

| Merged into LXQt

|-

| [[TrinityROX Desktop Environment]] (TDE) || 2010-04-29

| 2000 (?)

| R14.0.8 <ref name=":8">{{Cite web |url=https://www.trinitydesktop.org/newsentry.php?entry=2020.04.29 |title=Trinity News |website=www.trinitydesktop.org |access-date=2020-06-06}}</ref> || 2020-04-29<ref name=":8" /> || C++ || Qt || GPL (and other) || Forked from KDE 3.x

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q1417071|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

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| C, Python

| GTK

| GPL

| {{dash}}

|-

| [[Trinity Desktop Environment]] (TDE)

| [[Unity_(user_interface)|Unity]] || 2010-06-09

| 2010-04-29

| 7.5|| 2019-09-03 || C, C++, Python, Vala, QML || GTK || GPL, LGPL || Developed by Canonical for Ubuntu as an alternative graphical shell to GNOME Shell. Designed with "convergence" in mind, it was discontinued by Canonical in early 2017 because Unity 8 had some problems, including Mir and X app support. Was picked up by UBPorts and renamed "Lomiri."

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q14301825|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

| {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q14301825|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}

| C++

| Qt

| GPL (and other)

| Forked from KDE 3.x

|-

| [[Unity (user interface)|Unity]]

| [[Xfce]] || 1996

| 2010-06-09

| 4.14<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |url=https://xfce.org/about/news/?post=1565568000 |title=News – Xfce 4.14 released – Xfce|website=xfce.org|access-date=2020-06-06}}</ref>|| 2020-01-12<ref name=":9" />|| C || GTK || GPL, LGPL, BSD license || XFCE is often used in lightweight distributions targeting lower-end hardware.

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q381140|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

| {{wikidata|qualifier|raw|preferred|single|Q381140|P348|P548=Q2804309|P577}}

| C, C++, Python, Vala, QML

| GTK

| GPL, LGPL

| Developed by Canonical for Ubuntu as an alternative graphical shell to GNOME Shell. Designed with "convergence" in mind, it was discontinued by Canonical in early 2017 because Unity 8 had some problems, including Mir and X app support. Was picked up by UBPorts and renamed "[[Lomiri]]."

|-

| [[Xfce]]

| 1997-early

| {{wikidata|property|preferred|references|edit|Q170821|P348|P548=Q2804309}}

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| C

| GTK

| GPL, LGPL, BSD license

| Xfce is often used in lightweight distributions targeting lower-end hardware.

|}

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{| class="wikitable"

!

! !! [[KDE Software Compilation]] !! [[GNOME]] !! [[MATE (software)|Mate]] !! [[Cinnamon (desktop environment)|Cinnamon]] !! [[Xfce]] !! [[LXDE]] !! [[ROX Desktop]] !! Étoilé !! [[Equinox Desktop Environment|EDE]] !! [[Enlightenment (software)|Enlightenment]]

! [[KDE]]

! [[GNOME]]

! [[MATE (software)|MATE]]

! [[Cinnamon (desktop environment)|Cinnamon]]

! [[Xfce]]

! [[LXDE]]

! [[ROX Desktop]]

! Étoilé

! [[Equinox Desktop Environment|EDE]]

! [[Enlightenment (software)|Enlightenment]]

![[LXQt]]

|-

! [[X window manager]]

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| edewm

| Enlightenment

| [[KWin]]

|-

! [[X display manager (program type)|X display manager]]

| [[KDE Display Manager|KDM]], [[Simple Desktop Display Manager|SDDM]]

| [[GNOME Display Manager|GDM]]

|

Line 116 ⟶ 244:

| elma

| [[Entrance (display manager)|Entrance]]

|[[SDDM]]

|-

! [[File manager]]

Line 128 ⟶ 257:

| Efiler

| EFM, Entropy

|[[PCMan File Manager|PCManFM-Qt]]

|-

! [[Widget toolkit]]

Line 137 ⟶ 267:

| [[FLTK]] (previously eFLTK)

| Elementary

|[[Qt (framework)|Qt]]

|-

! [[Terminal emulator]]

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|

| Terminology

| Qterminal

|-

! [[Text editor]]

Line 161 ⟶ 293:

|

| Eyesight, Ecrire

|Mousepad

|-

! [[Video player (software)|Video player]]

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|

| Enna (media center), Eclair

|

|-

! [[Audio player (software)|Audio player]]

Line 184 ⟶ 318:

|

| Enjoy

|

|-

! [[Optical disc authoring software|CD burners]]

Line 196 ⟶ 331:

|

|

|Xfburn

|-

! [[CD ripper]]

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|

| Extrackt

|

|-

! [[Image viewer]]

| [[Gwenview]]

| [[EyeLoupe of(software)|Loupe (GNOME Image Viewer)]]

| [[MATE (software)#Components|Eye of MATE]]

|Xviewer

Line 220 ⟶ 357:

| Eimage

| Ephoto

|

|-

! [[Office suite]]

| [[Calligra Suite]] ([[KOffice]] until 2011)<ref>{{Cite web |last=creator) |first=Aracele Torres, Camila Ayres, Molly White (original wikimedia-timeline |last2=names |first2=Translated by Your |title=A 27 year timeline of KDE events |url=https://kde.org/ |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=kde.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Unmaintained / KOffice · GitLab |url=https://invent.kde.org/unmaintained/koffice |access-date=2023-10-25 |website=GitLab |language=en}}</ref>

| [[Calligra Suite]], [[KOffice]]

| GnomeOffice

|

|

|

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|

| Eve

|

|-

! [[E-mail client]]

Line 253 ⟶ 393:

|

| [[GNUMail]]

|

|

|

Line 264 ⟶ 405:

|

| Contacts

|

|

|

Line 279 ⟶ 421:

|

| Shotgun

|

|-

! [[File archiver|Archive manager]]

Line 291 ⟶ 434:

|

|

| LXQt-manager

|-

! [[PDF]] viewer

Line 303 ⟶ 447:

|

| Epdf

|

|-

! [[Integrated development environment|IDE]]

Line 315 ⟶ 460:

|

| EDI

|

|-

! [[X session manager]]

Line 327 ⟶ 473:

|

|

|

|-

! [[Widget engine]]

Line 339 ⟶ 486:

|

| Elementary

|

|-

! [[Software license|Licenses]] used

Line 344 ⟶ 492:

| [[GPL]], [[LGPL]]

| [[GPL]], [[LGPL]]

| [[GNU_General_Public_LicenseGNU General Public License#Version_2Version 2|GPLv2 (or later)]]

| [[GPL]], [[LGPL]], [[BSD licenses|BSD]]

| [[GPL]], [[LGPL]]

Line 351 ⟶ 499:

| [[GPL]], [[LGPL]]

| [[BSD licenses|BSD]], [[LGPL]]

|[[GPL]], [[LGPL]]

|-

! !! KDE Software Compilation !! GNOME !! MATE !! Cinnamon !! Xfce !! LXDE !! ROX Desktop !! Étoilé !! EDE !! Enlightenment

|}

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* [http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/5-best-linux-desktop-environments-with-pros-cons 5 Best Linux Desktop Environments With Pros & Cons] linuxandubuntu.com

* [https://linuxconfig.org/8-best-ubuntu-desktop-environments-18-04-bionic-beaver-linux The 8 Best Ubuntu Desktop Environments (18.04 Bionic Beaver Linux)] linuxconfig.org

*[https://webhostingprime.com/best-linux-gui/ 10 Best Linux GUI - Linux Desktop Environment] webhostingprime.com

* [https://www.datamation.com/open-source/best-new-linux-desktop-environments.html Best New Linux Desktop Environments] ''[[Datamation]]''

* [https://opensource.com/article/17/8/reasons-i-come-back-gnome 6 reasons why GNOME is still the best Linux desktop environment] [[opensource.com]]<!--non independant-->

* [https://www.linux.com/news/best-linux-desktop-environments-2016 Best Linux Desktop Environments for 2016] [[linux.com]]

* [https://lifehacker.com/5762081/wtf-desktop-environments-gnome-kde-and-more-explained WTF Desktop Environments: GNOME, KDE, and More Explained] ''[[Lifehacker]]''

* [https://www.networkworld.com/article/2359355/software/156246-A-visual-history-of-OS-desktop-environments.html A visual history of OS desktop environments] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203181034/https://www.networkworld.com/article/2359355/software/156246-A-visual-history-of-OS-desktop-environments.html |date=2018-02-03 }} [[NetworkWorld]]

{{X desktop environments and window managers}}